What clan will you play as first in Shogun 2, and why?

[salty mud]

Now that we know where each of the clans start and what their bonuses are, what clan would you like your first game to be as?

I'm planning as starting as the Shimazu clan, conquering my island and then taking the fight to the mainland. Hopefully the clans will be in a state of constant warfare, making the game interesting and different everytime.

EDIT: Here's a pic of the starting locations.

Spoiler :

 

[Maniacal]

Shimmazu is certainly tempting, but I'm waiting until the Gold Edition so there may be more factions by then.

 

[Dachs]

Oda is for winners

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Uesugi because Daimyo Kenshin was ossimsauce.

 

[Clement]

Shimazu for me, unfortunately i can't remember what they were exactly but it was their special abilities that made me choose them as i browsed the manual, demo looks great

 

[DannyTh3Man]

Always loved starting on a moderate island, gives that room to grow, and the defense isolation provides. Even in civs 3-5 I would love moderate sized islands. So Shimazu

 

[Elta]

Shimazu, they are contacted by the Portuguese first and get cannons and muskets first.

They are on an island.

My goal final army is heavily armored Niginata and Musketmen. It might not work in S2, but in the original those two units were all you needed.

 

[salty mud]

Are the Portuguese a scripted event? Do they contact certain nations before others? I suppose it makes sense for them to reach the Shimazu first.

 

[Maniacal]

I think part of the deal to get gunpowder is to accept missionaries. Thankfully there aren't a wide variety (like 3) gunpowder units so I won't be missing anything.

 

[Elta]

I think part of the deal to get gunpowder is to accept missionaries. Thankfully there aren't a wide variety (like 3) gunpowder units so I won't be missing anything.

The canons are quite powerful though, I wouldn't underestimate their usefulness in a siege.

Are the Portuguese a scripted event? Do they contact certain nations before others? I suppose it makes sense for them to reach the Shimazu first.

It was scripted in Shogun 1 and they land in the south well before any where else.

 

[Maniacal]

The canons are quite powerful though, I wouldn't underestimate their usefulness in a siege.

From the screenshots it seems quite a few of the "walls" in these castles already look rather cannon-resistant. I'm sure it won't be a problem, and you can already scale them easily enough. I don't think it will be a real problem.

 

[Elta]

Scaling and fighting on the walls puts you at a tremendous disadvantage compared to taking the gate down and punching though with your heaviest men.

However if you are the type to lock the enemy down and starve them out until they come at you I guess it doesn't matter.

Personally, I like to get in there and mix it up as soon as possible.

 

[Maniacal]

Catapults will take out the gate for me just fine then. Missionaries are nothing but trouble, I don't trust them.

 

[Elta]

Catapults will take out the gate for me just fine then. **Missionaries are nothing but trouble, I don't trust them.

*Catapults? What Catapults? Fire throwing Mangonels are the only native artillery in the game I think. Hopefully you can bombard a reinforced wooden gate instead of simply burning it and waiting an eternity for it to burn down like the crusade expansion for M2.

......
While burning the wall down is a valid strategy, the enemies canon towers are well with in range of the mangonels if the mangonels can hit the walls. The multiple towers can usually take down a mangonel before it can take down a gate.

I suppose you could bring multiple mangonels to counteract it, but I am not fond of them taking up a large chunk of my army.

I suppose you could send in a full army with 4 or 5 mang, take the wall down and withdraw. Then the next turn return with just 1 mang in your army, the gate will only be repaired to 20% or so, then you can take it out quickly. I've done it a few times in Rome and M2.




**Same here. Though in Shogun 2 you will need to invest in Shinobi (Defensive bodyguard Ninja's for your Damiyo/Secret police)

 

[Maniacal]

Considering a large part of the game will be pre-gunpowder, I think by the time an AI builds a cannon tower (if at all) I will have nice large armies and have lots of experience taking out castles.

 

[Elta]

Well they still have archers that shoot flaming arrows which can take out siege equipment.

Don't get me wrong though, you can play without gunpowder altogether.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

From the screenshots it seems quite a few of the "walls" in these castles already look rather cannon-resistant. I'm sure it won't be a problem, and you can already scale them easily enough. I don't think it will be a real problem.

This is correct, because even though many Japanese castles were wooden, including the walls themselves, the castles were also terraced, so there's no place for a cannon-blasted wall to fall down; there's just dirt behind it.

 

[salty mud]

I'm currently leaning towards the Chosokabe or Mori clans right now... Shimazu seems a bit too easy for a experienced TW gamer's first play through, I want something a little more dangerous. Of course if the CAI and BAI was confirmed to be up to scratch as CA claims, Shimazu would be a good first campaign, but one can never know for sure.

 

[Jos Ballenbak]

Hattori, because of two epic Hattori's who share names. Hattori Hanzo the legendary spear user and Hattori Hanzo the Kill Bill sword maker

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Shimmazu was the first faction I played in the original Shogun, so it'll be them again before moving onto the more central factions. Probably Oda, 'cos they're yellow.